1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a sample pretreatment system, and in particular to a sample pretreatment system equipped with a label sticking apparatus for sticking labels on containers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a sample pretreatment system which is equipped with an automatic pipetting apparatus for subdividing (pipetting) a source sample such as a blood sample or the like into a plurality of secondary samples, a label sticking apparatus is used to stick a bar code label or the like on each sample container (test tube, blood sample vial, etc.) in order to prevent the wrong sample from being taken or the like. In Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. HEI 10-24911, there is disclosed a label sticking apparatus which enables to carry out high-speed label sticking. This label sticking apparatus is provided with a main position having an insertion hole for holding a secondary sample container onto which a label is to be stuck, and an adjacent buffer position having a buffer hole for holding a secondary sample container on which a label has been stuck.
In the prior art label sticking apparatus described above, because a secondary sample container is held in the insertion hole or the buffer hole, the following problems occur when the container size is varied.
Namely, the containers have various sizes in accordance with the different kinds of tests to be carried out on the sample inside the container. For example, there are many cases where containers having a diameter in the range of 11 mm˜17 mm are used. Accordingly, when the insertion hole and the buffer hole are set to match a particular external dimension of a container (e.g., an outer diameter of 15 mm), it becomes impossible to insert a larger container (e.g., a container having an outer diameter of 17 nm). On the other hand, when a smaller container (e.g., a container having an outer diameter of 12 mm) is inserted, there will be significant rattling, and this will hinder the label sticking operation.